SoccerMLS Draft Day: Turning prodigies into pros

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The hard work has been done; the sacrifices have been made. The moment is now for several dozen nervous aspirants who dream of becoming soccer’s next big thing. Most of them will fail since Big Things are rare commodities. For now, being picked is as good as it gets for those hopeful of becoming tomorrow’s stars.

Thursday is draft day in Philly

Major League Soccer’s annual SuperDraft showcases the best of the best college graduates. Finally ready to abandon their amateur status and start getting paid for their talent, these are the young men who will fill out team rosters in 2010 and begin to learn what sort of life awaits them in the professional ranks.

Some will cross the divide seamlessly while others will fall by the wayside. All of them are taking a gamble – particularly those who quit college early. A few outstanding prospects are signed up by MLS before graduation. The league, aware it must protect its own future interests, occasionally raids its own breeding grounds before foreign scouts start handing out invitations to European trials.

A Canadian with a famous surname is among this year’s fortunate few. Teal Bunbury wants to carry on where his dad left off and score goals for a living. His dad, of course, is none other than Alex Bunbury, one of Canada’s most prolific marksmen of the 80’s and 90’s, who also enjoyed a successful European club career, most notably in Portugal.

Bunbury ‘Junior’ is just 19 and leaving the University of Akron ahead of time to pursue the dream. The Hamilton, Ont., born striker has already represented his country at various youth levels and wants to emulate his father’s success with the senior team. He spent his teenage years growing up in Minnesota and holds a U.S. passport, but tells me his desire is to become a Canadian international.

Is Teal good enough?

Is he good enough? MLS certainly thinks so. After emerging from the shadow of his former college teammate Steve Zakuani, who enjoyed an impressive rookie season in Seattle, Bunbury went on to become the NCAA’s leading scorer last year which in turn led to a handsome Generation adidas contract and the virtual certainty of a high first round draft pick.

When not scoring game winners for the Zips, who went all the way to the NCAA Championship game before losing to the Virginia Cavaliers in a penalty shootout, Bunbury also got a taste of what is to come. He chalked up five goals in just 11 appearances for Rochester in the USL’s Premier Development League.

The signs are clearly promising but wise coaches and GM’s preparing for draft are looking beyond the stats. A college whiz kid is merely that until he matures into a professional locker room full of battle scarred veterans. The new grads all bring potential but they must also learn how to balance youthful exuberance with respect for those who have seen it all before.

Alex Bunbury has taught his son well. Teal is an intelligent, articulate teenager who knows there is no substitute for hard work. Respect and playing time must be earned and when the opportunity presents itself the rookie must be physically and mentally prepared. College stats count for nothing unless the potential can be transplanted onto a professional pitch to say nothing of expectant fans and a demanding media.

While Bunbury benefits from having a father who can pass on firsthand knowledge of how to survive in the pro ranks, will his very surname become a hindrance? Soccer’s scrapheap is full of players who never lived up to their parent’s illustrious reputation despite having every advantage in their formative years.

Bunbury believes not. He understands it is up to him, and him alone, to make his own way in the game henceforth. Clearly he inherited good genes but it is not about being as good as, or better than, his father. It is about Teal learning his professional trade and being as good as, or perhaps better, than he imagined he could be.

Like scores of others at the draft, Teal Bunbury is about to embark on a journey into the unknown. He is about to leave home and trade tiny Prior Lake, MN for who knows where? New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, perhaps even Toronto may all be calling his name.

As of Thursday he gets to do what the rest of us can only dream about and play football for a living. Sometimes that will mean not playing; it will mean warming the bench or rehabbing from injury. It will mean a punishing pre-season regime for years to come and early nights when others are out revelling until the early hours.

It will require mental fortitude when your name is not on the team sheet. It will require patience, understanding and an unshakeable belief and desire to make the grade. It is a soccer truism that if you’re good enough, you’re old enough. To be good enough, the sacrifices are only just beginning.

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